If nothing else, bizarre claim is an invaluable look into the inner workings of Musk’s mind

December 4, 2017

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We all know that the whole Apollo program was cooked up by a bunch of hot-rod-loving rocket jockeys as an excuse to put a few cars (EVs, incidentally) on the moon; the national glory angle was a carefully concocted cover story.

The goal here is (we think) showing off the new Falcon Heavy rocket’s capabilities without putting a pricey telecom satellite on the line. And also to have some fun with it! Space is supposed to be cool and fun!

Then, in a series of interactions with tech pub The Verge, Musk confirmed the plan and then denied it, only for someone else to step in and confirm it again. It’s probably the most characteristically Musk series of wild-ass tweets, conflicting follow-ups and general zaniness we could possibly imagine (until next week, at least).

Basically, this is why people love the guy, and also why people hate the guy.

Thing is, as ridiculous as it sounds, sending a Roadster to Mars is probably easier to pull off than seamlessly ramping up Model 3 production. According to SpaceX, the Falcon Heavy can launch over 140,000 pounds into low Earth orbit, or just over 37,000 pounds to the red planet. Satellites can be pretty big, so a Lotus-based car should have no trouble fitting in the cargo bay.

Musk’s claims here are, at the very least, wholly plausible: He could fling a Roadster into space toward Mars, and maybe he will. As to how this helps him get more electric cars on terrestrial roads, though, we have no idea.

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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